The project is coordinated by Professor Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann, Director of MIRALab, a virtual reality lab of the University of Geneva.

This 4 years funded project is based upon a strong network of expertise in which each partner brings its know-how and knowledge from three different research environments: academic (education), hospital (social actors) and private (industry). The Hospitals of the University of Geneva (HUGE) as well as the Hannover Medical School, Germany (LBB-MHH) are in charge of acquiring MRI in high resolution. This allows MIRALab to perform modeling of 3D mechanical models of the leg joint (such as the knee) of the specific person from the images of bones, muscles, tendons, etc. MIRALab and the Hannover Medical School, Germany (LBB-MHH) focuses on the analysis of the patient movements through motion capture equipment. The University of Minho Braga, Portugal (UMINHO) provides, for its part, cellular data and mechanical properties of tissues to allow the 3D visualization of the patient’s knee articulations. This visualization, which will enable doctors the ability to navigate through the human body, is provided by Welfenlab Laboratory from the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. The National Council for Research of Genoa, Italy (CNR-IMATI) proposes a management system of biological and medical knowledge (ontology) to provide an overview of knowledge related to this project. Finally, the Softeco Sismat Srl Company in Genoa, Italyleads all efforts linked to technology transfer.

ESRs/ERs and Scientists in charge presentation

12 early stage researchers (ESR) and 2 experienced researchers (ER) have been recruited by the partners.

Marta Ondrésik (ESR3 UMINHO), from SlovakiaMaster in Molecular Biology at University of Szeged, HungaryIndividual Research project: “Understanding cellular behaviour in early and late stage of musculoskeletal disease (MSD)”

MatthiasBecker (ESR6 MIRALab), from GermanyMaster in Computer Science at Leibniz University of Hannover, GermanyIndividual Research project: “Efficient extraction and analysis of musculoskeletal structures”

ImonBarnerjee (ESR10 CNR-IMATI), from IndiaMaster of Technology in Information Technology, National Institute of Technology, IndiaIndividual Research project: “Methods, tools, and services for organizing, browsing, and searching medical databases with ontologies”

Ricardo Millán (ESR11 Welfenlab), from SpainMaster in Telecommunication Engineering at University of Vigo, Spain and University of Siena, ItalyIndividual Research project: “Integrated visualization system that will substantially improve the understanding and analysis of MSD”

JanRzepecki (ESR12 Welfenlab), from PolandMaster in Electronics and Telecommunication on Technical University of Lodz, PolandIndividual Research project: “User interaction with multi-scale and multimodal MSD modalities”